The Big Question: Which Arkham Game Is Your Favourite?

The Arkham series of Batman games has been super consistent. As consistent as any games series out there really. Now we're asking a difficult question. Which is your favourite?

Personally? I think this is a tough one. I loved the ambition of Arkham City, but also enjoyed the tight design of Asylum. As for Arkham Knight? I think I might need a bit more time and distance to properly evaluate that.

I've only played City and Asylum so far (waiting on GOTY edition of Knight and have no interest in Origin).

Asylum was a well-constructed experience that is probably the better game overall but City was a great big playground to Batman about it. Sometimes I just want to get into a fight and end it with a slow motion batarang as I walk away. City does that better and that's why I enjoyed City more.

Asylum followed by Origins. Origins wasn't great but it was it's own story which I feel is an under rated aspect. City and Knight are higher budget sequels to a relatively small but successful game. Asylum is a Batman story first. Asylum is intimate. It's ultra detailed in the layouts, posters on the wall, attention to artistic detail, but also in the game design. Nothing exists just because it's the logical evolution of a game feature. The Asylum is exactly as big or as small as it needs to be. City and Knight have that warped sequel perspective where even though something was just right in the first it has to be bigger or smaller because it's a sequel.
I'm not saying that makes City and Knight bad games or poorly written, as much as I rolled my eyes at the plot of city it's a fair story and great game, and while I don't like the murder tank being Batman's go to solution in Arkham Knight and the twists are obvious* Arkham Knight is a really well written game. I just feel they got distracted from what made Arkham Asylum a near perfect game for both gamers and Batman fans. City and Knight are great for gamers but they're not that perfect crossover Asylum was.

*By the end I came around to the twists being obvious. They're not doing that Nolan thing of 'no, Robin isn't in this movie, that's stupid, there will never be a Robin in a Dark Knight movie. Obviously Robin isn't Robin. You're seeing things. TWIST. Obviously Robin is actually some weird Robin you don't really care about, is your mind blown?!'. It expects you to guess who Arkham Knight is and rather than desperately trying to throw you off the trail it just keeps telling the story it wants to tell.

It's got a slow start and there's a bit of anti-hype in that it's not a 'real' Arkham game. It was also borderline unplayable for a long time. I know a lot of people who had their save corrupted before the good part and never bothered to restart.
Origins Spoilers, worth checking out if you're on the fence about the game. Nothing that will ruin the game since it's all in the delivery not the reveals.The work it does with establishing how the Joker came to love Batman so much is worth powering through the less thrilling parts. It's sort of an origin story for the Joker, but rather than being about where the man came from it's about how a moment with Batman sparked a crazy face painted jerk into becoming the Joker. It was really interesting to see how the Joker became so obsessed rather than just having him fall in a vat of acid and come out crazy, or show up out of nowhere already obsessed with Batman.

I really liked Origins - the story was really well told, the gradual development of the relationship between Batman and [the antagonist] built really well, and the story had a pretty great twist. I especially loved the sequences as [the antagonist], coming to terms with Batman's existence. The occasional bugs aside (thankfully, i never had a problem with the infamous unenterable ventilation shaft), I found it superior to City from a storytelling perspective, and from a "non-confrontational villain doesn't suddenly turn into hulking monster to crush you personally" standpoint.

So, yea. From a pure gameplay standpoint, Asylum was probably better. But from a story perspective, from a character development perspective, from a "portraying Batman as a detective" perspective, and from a "villains acting like they should" perspective, Origins is the better of the open world games. Haven't finished Knight, and am digging it thus far for similar reasons; even though I feel Noble was a poor choice for Scarecrow as his voice is far too recognisable - I can't shake the feeling that Batman is being tormented by Walter Bishop's evil double.

Funny you say that - I finished the game last night, jumped on IMDB to check if it was Conroy and Hamill (I was afraid to check while I was still playing in case there was a spoiler there), and went "wait, John Noble was Scarecrow?" Might have to start a new playthrough just to hear it myself.

One thing I will give Arkham Knight credit for over Arkham Asylum is the gameplay sequence for the ending. I don't want to go into too much spoiler detail, but Asylum and City had these very video game boss type fights while Knight was confident enough in it's story to make it more of an event. Plotwise it had some typical problems but mechanically I think they were spot on.

Arkham Asylum was pretty much the perfect game for me, big enough world to have a nice explore but not so big you spend half your time travelling between places.

I still love all the games in the series (even Origins) and am currently suffering through the PC version of Knight, but I feel that Asylum works the best as a Batman game. If they ever make another one I'd be perfectly fine with them dropping the Batmobile and the city and just setting it in one well designed location again.

Asylum is leading? I would go for City since that fixed a lot of the major issues I had with Asylum, mainly the boss fights and I liked the open world more than the closed Asylum.

Origins is more of the same with nothing new and Knight started off good but dragged down in the second half. It had too many batmobile tank missions, the side missions just sucked and didn't care much for the story.

Knight for sure. Asylum introduced us to a brilliantly playable Batman. City then added the sprawling open world that afforded him the ability to really "own" Gotham. Knight then takes what's great about the open world in City and expands upon it in nearly every way for the better. It also has my favourite story of the three, the stakes are higher yet significantly more personal and the cracks in Batman's metaphorical armour begin to show. And I don't care what anyone says.... The Batmobile is awesome.

Had to go with Asylum because it's the only one I've played. That said, it's probably one of my favorite games on the PS3 and I fully intend to play the others having even bought City when it came out, just haven't really had the time.

I'm always amazed at how quickly after a games' release you guys post articles like this. I mean putting aside the fact that you'd need a complete lack of job and family commitments to get through the game in the week that its been in store shelves, but a lot of people, myself included, intend to get the game but just haven't had the chance to yet! Would it hurt to give the game a chance to be out before asking for people's definitive opinion??

Yeh I have the same problems. My Batman Arkham Knight is only 10% completed on my save file. The world has changed heaps now and I guess its a race to put out as many articles as possible, otherwise the next freelance blogger will. Hell I have a few friends who like to criticize games like they own and play them, yet all they do is sit down and watch some guy on youtube/twitch playing it. I think we will be amazed at how many people who put their 2 cents in have actually completed the game. Most would have just youtubed the good bits and believe they have seen everything. Annoys me to no end.

I've been playing it every day (family and job on top) and with everything else I have going on? Barely scratched the surface. But to be honest? I like to play games like this. Rushing through it in 3 days isn't enjoyable, it's just an endurance race and really, ruins the experience. For me at least.

Actually, for Arkham Knight, I would've liked more civilians to inhabit Gotham. I dunno, I feel that the open world shouldn't be so lifeless. And I'm only 10% in but I would've liked more crims on rooftops.

Despite the open world of (city) i would say its hard to deny the stellar interplay between both batman and the joker in Asylum. Not only are they brought to the front by two of the best actors to portray each of the characters, respectively, but it is done so in a way that perfectly sets the scene for the next two iterations. This coupled with the atmosphere of the asylum itself leaves it a definite top pick for me.